Profiles

Rick Moonen

Rick Moonen, a founding Seafood Choices Alliance member (and 2006 Seafood Champion), is the chef and co-owner of RM Seafood, an upscale Las Vegas seafood restaurant. The restaurant’s continuously changing menu features dishes that reflect Rick’s love and passion for the creatures of the sea and his interest in sustainable seafood. Rick opened RM in 2005, and formerly was executive chef and partner of Oceana in New York City.

What is your favorite seafood?
I love everything! I really enjoy loup de mer, a bass of sorts, farm-raised in France, Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean.

What is your favorite seafood to prepare at the restaurant?
Loup de mer.

What's the most popular seafood dish on your menu?
The most popular dishes at rm right now are Alaskan halibut and also walleye, which has become our signature dish.

How did you get interested in the issue of sustainable seafood?
It started with SeaWeb and getting involved in the “ Give Swordfish a Break” [link to SeaWeb and archived GSAB sites] campaign several years ago. Nora Pouillon (of Restaurant Nora and Asia Nora in Washington, D.C.) [link to her profile] called me and she asked me to take swordfish off my menu because it had been overfished. And I knew that swordfish had become harder to get – that it was smaller and sometimes of lesser quality. So I got involved.

How would you describe your philosophy on ocean conservation?
I’m excited and happy that I work with the last wild product, that these animals are still living in the wild. So sustainable issues hit me hard – the fact that we’re disrupting their life cycle and style. Besides the environment, my primary interest in sustainability is keeping their living area, or habitat, fresh and clean so the fish stay healthy and we can serve a good-quality product.

Has it changed what you serve?
Absolutely. I’m a lot more inquisitive about the sources of the fish. I try to make sure my fish come from the most sustainable sources possible. Here at rm, for example, I’ve taken Atlantic salmon off my menu; although there are some farms that do it right, I had to remove all Atlantic salmon from the menu because it’s hard to know for sure specifically where it comes from.

While at Oceana, I took Chilean sea bass off my menu because it had been overexploited. The regulations were too lax. It was the hardest thing to do because it was our number one selling item. It was hard on my wait staff because customers would be upset. But we’d suggest something else and they’d be fine. My customers want to know more. Most of the time, 85 percent of the time, they are very supportive and they applaud the moves I’ve made. It’s amazing. Years ago, they’d ask about tuna and how it was caught because they were concerned about the dolphins. But then the issues surrounding seafood got a lot more complicated.

Have your seafood purveyors worked with you on getting sustainably caught seafood?
When someone calls and tells me they have some good fish, I ask, “Where’s it from? How was it caught? Get back to me.” It works. It’s like turning around a barge. It’s slow, but it can be done. If people like me keep asking questions about fish, the sellers have to start saying, “I better find out.” My customers are coming in here asking me questions, so I’m asking the next person at the next level.

Why do you support Seafood Choices Alliance?
Chefs have been given incredible attention – there’s this celebrity thing. Consequently, we have to do something with that. Let’s use our influence over people to make a difference. If we get everyone together, we can actually change the course we’re on and make our future better. With Seafood Choices, it’s not just me making choices.

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